Anyone who has seen the internet video Zeitgeist likely recalls this assertion about New Testament theology. Those in academia know that Zeitgeist's content is deeply flawed, but that hardly matters, since most of the people who buy into its ideas aren't scholars or...
Paleobabble (Misreading Texts)
Nimrod Mythology
Spend any time on the internet (especially Christian sites) and you're bound to run into a pile of PaleoBabble about Nimrod, a character mentioned only in Genesis 10:8-9; 1 Chron. 1:10 (repeats Genesis 10:8); and Micah 5:6 (reference to the "land of Nimrod"). Here are...
Dr. Mike Brown Tells People the Truth About the Hebrew Alphabet and Of Course Pays For It
Back in March I posted a link to the video below, which was created and posted by Dr. Michael Brown. The video is about how Hebrew is not to be read / translated / interpreted according to the shapes of the original picture-script ("pictographic") from which the...
The Serpent and Eve Nonsense: Where The Idea Comes From and Does Not Come From
In case readers have been following comments to my earlier posts on this biblical paleobabble issue, I decided to make things convenient. Please note that they may not be any more decipherable, since the articles I link to below require at least a decent grasp of the...
Another Great Moment in Pulpit PaleoBabble
Just when you think preaching can't get any more insipid, you find yet another logic-defying sermon out there on the web. "Thanks" to the person who sent this to me. Some surface observations on the problems with this "Bible lesson": 1. Since the NIV *printed* the...
The Name of Jesus: Does it Matter?
One of the most frequent email questions I get concerns the name "Jesus." More specifically, the question goes something like this: "Isn't the name ‘Jesus' a pagan invention? Shouldn't we say "Yeshua" or Yahshua" instead?" I'm not sure what motivates people who...
Even Scholars Do PaleoBabble
Readers may find April DeConick's series on how the Jesus Seminar is "bankrupt" of interest (her word). April, a professor at Rice University, is by no means a defender of traditional orthodoxy with respect to Christianity. She views the Gnostic material and theology...
Dr. Michael Brown on the Black Israelites Idea
I haven't watched or listened to this yet, but I'm expecting Dr. Brown to have some sound insights on this paleobabble.
Flat Earth Follow-Up
Just a quick note. While it's depressing to see in real time that people who name the name of Christ believe in non-truth, thereby shaming the gospel, I'm going to keep the comments open on that post of a couple days ago (now at 118 comments), with the following...
Christians Who Believe the Earth is Really Flat — Does It Get Any Dumber Than This?
I'm almost afraid to ask the question. It seems whenever I do, something comes along to produce an affirmative answer. Lately I've been seeing things on Facebook (or have had those who follow my work sending me items) that ask if I believe the earth is flat. That's a...
The Bible Code Myth Redux
Okay, I know -- it's beating a dead horse. But, I was reminded of the Bible Code today by this recent rehearsal of the nonsense at the Skeptophilia Blog. And since we're beating dead horses, I should remind readers that I wrote a short book debunking this many moons...
Hieroglyphics and the “Symbolic” Meanings as “Translated” by Esotericists
It's quite common online to run across people who claim to be Egyptologists arguing for "metaphysical" meanings of hieroglyphs. I'm thinking of people like John Anthony West, who by his own admission cannot read Egyptian. But in his mind, he doesn't need to -- since...
Syllabic Silliness with Jordan Maxwell
NOTE: For proper viewing of foreign Egyptian and Hebrew characters, download the PDF version of this document - the blog messes up the fonts. One of the readers of PaleoBabble recently asked me to take a look at some of the claims of Jordan Maxwell. I'd heard of...
א ת BS
I sure hope the fonts come through on my title. But if they don't, א ת BS = aleph-taw BS. I'm guessing everyone knows what the last two letters mean if they can't identify the first two Hebrew letters. (Note: taw is also transliterated and pronounced tav). Way back...
Urban Legends (Unconscious Lies) Preachers Tell
Had to direct you all to this succinct list of spurious material that many of you have probably heard from a pulpit or on the radio. Kudos again to Todd Bolen for alerting me to this. Here are some that made the list, along with some links for more detail): The “eye...